From: Larry Solters
Subject: I’ll give you some hate………

Me again…….
———————-

"TM’s fees as the most hated item in the music industry?"

I got a long, long list of companies that deserve to be hated, and they don’t even pay me. Seriously, Bob, I thought you were smarter than all this.

Let’s first talk about TM’s convenience charges. Guess what, Bob….TM wants, and it would certainly make my day job easier, to have its fees included in the face value of the ticket. Unfortunately, venues and promoters won’t hear of it — they’d rather let TM take heat while they split their healthy share that these revenues generate. As you know the convenience charge has become a very viable source of revenue for the live entertainment industry, so don’t look for substantive changes unless the rest of the industry allows it. If you’re going to take a shot at somebody, target the ones that have the real power to change the "system." At the end of the day, TM is a glorified Fed-Ex without the cool planes and trucks.

As to the non-refundable delivery charge… Let’s be clear, Ticketmaster does not cancel shows. Artists and/or promoters cancel shows. When an artist is "instructed by their doctor to rest their vocal cords" or a promoter cancels a show due to "scheduling conflicts," Ticketmaster is the one that makes the refunds to the ticket holders. Today alone, among the tours Ticketmaster is refunding include Amy Winehouse, The Cure, and The White Stripes.

Guess what? Nobody in the industry reimburses TM for the cost of doing this — not the promoter, not the agent, not the venue and of course, not the artist. Yes, you are right, TM uses $4 of the $111 charge to pay for handling this reimbursement — and when refunding, performs the service twice. TM would love to walk away from that responsibility but somebody has to step up to the bar and do the dirty work. TM provides that service. TM would be happy to provide that service for free, but my thought is that the big guys in NY with the calculators would have a problem with that.

More importantly, how can one harp on a $4 per order (not per ticket) charge when the real issue confronting consumers and the industry is the exorbitant amounts resellers are taking out without investing a dime back into our business? This is the result when an industry refuses to price its product at its market value. Resellers go on to eBay/StubHub and other broker sites and regularly post non-existent tickets before they’re even available for sale. They almost never tell fans exactly what seat they’re purchasing or what the face price was (so much for the transparency you find on Ticketmaster), and, if there’s a cancellation, often can’t be found and you’re shit out of luck. And you claim a $4 non-refundable charge on a $110 charge is the most hated issue or problem in the music industry? I got a list. We should have lunch……a long one.

If you want a real contender for "the most hated item in the music industry," why not ticket brokers/scalpers? Check out StubHub.com and you and Felice can have the honor of seeing Van Halen at STAPLES for $1,385 each ticket, $2,270 total. I’m sure you have no problem with StubHub’s very reasonable convenience charge of $277 dollars and, don’t forget, shipping & handling for $11.95. BTW, this whole deal is purely speculative, as the tickets haven’t even gone on sale yet. Want to go see Hannah Montana with Felice & two friends at STAPLES? No problem. Write a check for $8,800, made out to StubHub.

And your venom is targeted at the industry asking $66 for the same tickets?

It’s time to atone for your sins and educate yourself about the economics of Ticketmaster, Bob. Deal with it — the 1990s are over and your Pearl Jam investigation isn’t going anywhere.

Solters

I downloaded a sampler album from the "Vancouver Sun"

Free for downloading, some Seriously Westcoast songs

I think it was the Barenaked Ladies tracks that enticed me. I’ve got a special place in my heart for "Baby Seat".

The Lefsetz Letter: Barenaked Ladies

But the folder sat on my desktop for an entire week until I decided to delete all the superfluous clutter from my computer. There were too many tracks to listen to from beginning to end. The only way I could avoid trashing all of them was to sample each cut in QuickTime to see if it was worth importing into iTunes. That’s how I discovered the Weepies.

You think you know a band because you read about them. But then you realize you have no idea what they really sound like. And do you really want to listen to a band entitled "The Weepies"? Sounds like something so indie as to be unlistenable. But that is not the case. The Weepies are exactly the kind of act I listened to in my college dorm room, that I purchased the album of when I was in law school. Oh, I bought Aerosmith and the Eagles too. But some of my favorite acts were those that seemingly few knew about, that I could go see in clubs and be whisked away by. I’m not sure I understand mass culture. I don’t want to be like everybody else. I want to maintain my individuality. When the mainstream and the hip merged for a while there, it was interesting to be riveted to MTV. But it seemed odd that little kids were aware and into the same acts as me. But when Judy McGrath wasn’t paying attention, when major label executives became inured to private jets, the scene fractured. Tech-savvy kids who wanted no part of a mainstream created their own scene. Rejecting the paradigms that those in power thought were immutable. Didn’t matter if the singer was good-looking, didn’t matter if the tunes fit any radio format, the only question was how did the music make you feel? And, if it made you feel good, you told everybody you thought was interested. And, this didn’t only include your friends in the dorm, but your high school buddies halfway across the nation.

Music used to be scarce. We’d pay for sampler albums. Warner Brothers had a whole cottage industry selling them. I discovered some gems alongside the obvious hits on the $2 double-packs

The Lefsetz Letter: Samplers 

But now every act has a MySpace page. Music is free. It’s everywhere for the tasting. Where does one start?

One doesn’t start on MTV. Nor the radio. Many people are so stymied, they don’t start at all. Yet, the major labels want us to buy their records on faith, as if it were still 1973. No wonder they’re in such shit shape. They just don’t get it. Terry McBride and his Nettwerk Group get it. They assembled this "Seriously West Coast" sampler for the "Vancouver Sun". Maybe that’s why I checked it out. I trust them.

I remembered that the Weepies had worked with Mandy Moore. But even though she’s at the top of the airhead ecosystem, I don’t pay attention to her. She’s not about music. But it turns out Ms. Moore has good taste. Because the Weepies have something, their music is magical.

You don’t need a manual to understand it. You just have to hit play.

You’re probably not famous. You probably have more questions than answers. Maybe you don’t even like to go to clubs. But you’re here. You’re looking for your group, you want to belong. You want a girl or boyfriend. You want to share. You want to exult in the good times. And share the bad. What music accompanies this kind of life, your life? The Weepies.

I’ve got an interest in seeing Van Halen. They’re icons. But I’d much rather go to a club where I could SIT and revel in the Weepies’ music. That’s an experience I remember that seems to be gone. Whether it be at the Roxy or the Bitter End. Acts that appealed to our heads and hearts as opposed to our genitalia played on stage as we sat in our own little bubble, contemplating our memories, those already experienced and those that hadn’t happened yet.

Check this act out.

The song that was on the "Seriously West Coast" sampler is "Gotta Have You". You can hear it on the band’s Website,

The Weepies

The player is embedded in the page at the bottom. It’s not the first cut, but it’s there. Or go to their MySpace page:

The Weepies MySpace

You can’t build a wall around your act, exacting a toll for entrance. You’ve got to go out into the field and give people a taste. Maybe even give away your product in order to get people hooked, and allowing them to use this same unencumbered product to hook others. So you can build a fan base. A DRM’ed iTunes purchase stops with the buyer. That’s a mistake. That’s positively seventies. You’ve got to enable your fans. Don’t hire a street team that offends everybody it touches, make THE WHOLE WORLD YOUR STREET TEAM! Give everybody the tools to turn others on.

Somewhere along the line, hit music became crossed with good music. It wasn’t good unless it was on the Top Forty, unless it sold.

It wasn’t like this when I grew up. Your record collection was a badge of your identity. Each record hand-picked, you could divine where someone was coming from based on perusal of the spines of their albums. They might have a comedy record, Allan Sherman or "First Family", a couple of Beatle records, then what?

I was on the 405 long after midnight, sliding up the XM dial. And when I got to the folk channel, there was this specialty program entitled "River City Folk". They were interviewing someone I’d never heard of and this gentleman was going to play a record by someone equally unknown to me. I figured I’d stay tuned in, just to hear how awful this obscurity was.

But it wasn’t. Chris Rosser’s "Archaeology" was good.

My music addiction began in my parents’ living room, listening to show tunes emanating from the speakers of the Columbia stereo.

And from there, I discovered folk music. At summer camp. There was always a counselor with a guitar. And we’d sing songs they probably still sing at camps today. "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore". "Blowin’ In The Wind". There was a joy in singing along. A feeling that you were part of something. Of this mass of humanity. Assembled around the flagpole.

They say we used to live in a smaller world. We didn’t have contact on the Internet with those states away. And, my parents, for one, wouldn’t allow us to make long distance calls. Long before Sprint and Verizon allowed you to dial anywhere in the country for one flat fee.

When I sang those songs, I felt bonded not only with the assembled multitude, but the earth and the sky. I felt not only that I counted, but that I was part of something bigger. I was aware someone wrote these tunes, but who they were was far less important than their work.

We went on to sing Beatle songs.
And maybe today’s youth sit around at parties and sing along to the strummings of a Gibson. But all I read about is people bumping bodies to bass-driven records. There’s nothing wrong with beats, but a certain warmth is lacking. And an inherent singability.

Yes, it’s fun to sing. It makes one feel alive. When you’re driving in the car and a favorite song comes over the radio and you turn it up and belt along you feel like being alive is the greatest gift one could ever know, to be able to feel this joy.

And so many of those songs we sang along with in the days of yore had a feel, a meaning.

Now the same three guys create all the records. They all sound alike. They’re engineered to fit a narrow paradigm. Creativity is within prescribed parameters. The artist is just a cog in the wheel, oftentimes a veritable ghost in the machine. But when you see someone live, alone with their guitar, you feel alive in the same way you did as a little kid. When I listen to "Archaeology" I feel like I’m in high school. Or maybe college. It wasn’t important that the music I listened to be on hit radio. Wasn’t important that it was spun on the FM either. It was all right if the people next door had never heard of it. I knew when I went to the gig, I’d find a bunch of like-minded people. I felt if I could engage them in conversation, I’d discover they were just like me.

"Archaeology" feels like the lyrics. Returning to one’s hometown after leaving to find your way in the world, before you’ve discovered your niche. Everything is the same, but you’re not. You’re an adult now. Time is passing you by. Will you grab hold of life, or will this empty feeling prohibit you from moving forward.

And maybe we never make peace with the past. We just shrug our shoulders and move forward.

Although it was ten years old, "Archaeology" sounded brand new. Sans the production of the moment, it was timeless. Not that I found it was a decade old until I Googled the musician and the song and it popped right up.

Go to: Archaeology Click on "MP3" to hear it (to download it on a Mac, hold down the Option key while you click).

You’ll be reminded of a time when your life had not yet become set in stone, before you became calcified, before you became who you are.

Do you like who you are? Did you turn out the way you wanted to be? When you look in the mirror, are you surprised? Do you have more questions than answers?

How do you cope? How do you get through?

The reason baby boomers still buy music is they recall a time when music was soothing, when it had the answers, when it made life so much more pleasurable. If you want to know what it was like, listen to "Archaeology".

From: LUKEDADDY

Subject: I have seen the future !

It’s not "NEW"

It’s fucking VAN HALEN!!

I was invited to a loose rehearsal for the new tour last night. It was NOT the "fab: dress rehearsal, it was one where in a big arena they were rehearsing for the upcoming tour. Now Ed and Al are dear friends of mine for alomost 30 years, same "valley" upbringing as me, and I have always loved VH and the music, but also more cause I really love these guys as friends. Our kids grew up together, we live near each other etc..

Fuck all that.

I saw and HEARD REAL ROCK N ROLL! It took me back.. I had a fucking tear in my eye. They are Baaaack! If this ain’t the rock n roll event of the year then I fucking will be your septic tank salesman!
Ed KILLED, Alex, never better (dig the drum solo!). Any doubts about Wolfie are laughable, he played and sang all the high parts and made Alex’s groove more deep than ever in the history, 16 years old, look out for THIS kid!, and I gotta say, Dave brought it! I admit, I was a bit "Oh fuck I hope this is good" but fucking A if Dave didn’t deliver! (even thought there were maybe 100 people hangin out watching)..

I brought my 20 year old son who is a HUGE fan.. the sound and vibe of this band brought me back to 1978 and like a fine wine tasted better than ever! The SET LIST?? It’s gonna KILL YOU!
GREAT production but it’s ALL about the band not flashy images of bullshit artsy fartsy crap, it’s the BAND and Dave is really the cat that can front VH. He sang his ASS off and was really cool. No cheese here guys, this is filet Mignon!

If you don’t see what I saw last night, and that’s WITHOUT a massive arena crowd that will tear the roof off..well then you might as well be dead! Nothing fake here guys, nothing shallow or jive… just the best rock n roll band that the USA has got! Whatever they are charging go see it !

They were having FUN! There was some humour but not in a cheesy way, VH way. Damn, there IS hope yet!

Luke

From: Al Kooper

Yo Bob (you misogynist you )

In 2003, I started up with iTunes. Prior to that I had been ignorant of the top ten for close to thirty years because of nausea induced by listening to the radio. I had shut it off for decades. Having been an active member of the music business as an artist, producer, label owner (briefly), songwriter, I had my fill of participation by 1989. I can tell you some basic pretenses that you’ve left out of your rants:

The most important one is this:

Record companies have strived for decades to build a new music for each generation. The success of that construction is based on a few precepts..

a) they will sell more records if the music differs radically from the new generation’s parents’ music. i.e. it must be SO different, that parents must DESPISE it !

If that happens then that new generation has its own voices – created by the record companies to sell records and infuriate parents.

As I gew up, I was subjected to Perry Como and Nat King Cole, Eddie Fisher and Patti Page; artists my parents REALLY enjoyed listening to. I wonder if my parents went to the Paramount Theater in NYC to see the Dorsey band back up teen idol Frank Sinatra. When Elvis hit the scene, I was already into doowop. The babysitter turned me on to that. But here was music that my parents could NOT understand; music that SPOKE to me and finally when Elvis appeared, I had a role model. Clothes, hair, food, and most of all MUSIC. My parents hated that stuff. Later, the first time I played Bob Dylan’s first album in my room on my phonograph, my mother came in and pulled the tone arm off the record. "TURN THAT OFF !!! IT SOUNDS LIKE FINGERNAILS ON A BLACKBOARD!!" If Columbia Records knew that then, they would have made John Hammond Jr. CEO instead of calling Dylan "Hammond’s Folly!"

In 1968 when I was peaking as an artist, an interviewer asked what I thought music would be like in 20 years.

I thought for a moment, "Basic, like maybe just drums – very jungle oriented.." I conjectured. When rap first took hold, I thought back to that answer and marvelled. I hate rap and hiphop.

I’m supposed to.

I’m a parent

That music is not addressing ANYTHING in my thoughts – it’s ANOTHER generations music. That’s why.

Britney Spears, Madonna, Ashley Simpson, get outa town !!! I had fights with my friends in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ’cause they defended Guns N Roses when they first came out. I couldn’t get past the original drummer.

When I randomly heard Lynyrd Skynyrd in a bar in Atlanta in 1972, I understood, as a record producer, that any 15 year old boy would want to put on Free Bird, lower his head, and race into the nearest wall. That’s all I had to know. Fortunately, for me, they were great musicians, great songwriters, and a great hang at the time.

Someone said in the 80’s, only sign a band if you feel they will be inducted into the RR Hall of Fame in 25 years, I TRULY believed that Skynyrd would.

Ok

Speed ahead to 2003. I started rummaging hrough the new releases in iTunes, and I heard great music again after thirty years of garbage IMHO. Not just a band or two, but a LOT of great music from new artists. As a fan, I was thrilled!

I had new music to finally listen to.

None of the artists I coveted became giant acts. No matter, I LOVED THEM and began to support them. I downloaded their music, listened to it constantly and started listing it on my website. Every month I started adding a list of all the good music I felt I had downloaded that month. Soon I started getting thank you notes from these bands. This astonished me. Why was some twenty year old musician looking at MY website???

They weren’t !

It was word of mouth that had gotten back to them.

I started going to their gigs when they passed through my town.

I’d go backstage to meet them, see what they were about – after all, I was an unmitigated fan.

Soon they’d come back to the house, we’d hang, listen to music, eat meals together and I had new friends who, IMHO were the next generations best musicians.

Is this a beatiful country or WHAT????

Each of you can do the same as I did.

Unfortunately, the P2Ps (if you go that way- I don’t) have no NEW RELEASE sections. THAT IS what attracts me to iTunes – it was in 2003, a NEW ARENA for new music to appear in. And if you went to the trouble of going through all the new releaseses, there were gems aplenty. I stopped buying CDs immediately (except for old music I couldn’t find on iTunes) and had no interest in going back to the radio; terrestrial or extraterrestrial.

So here I am, four years later, with over 4500 purchases on my computer and iPod, musically happy as a clam.

Now don’t get me wrong – there are mostly rotten new bands coming out, but at least for the last four years, I have gotten to hear tracks by some really good ones.

At 63, I’m delighted to have lived long enough to possibly witness the death of the major record companies who have ALL cheated me for the last 49 years. I hope I can attend every single funeral b4 I expire.

And now back to YOU, Bob

Al Kooper